The Presidency has said that more than 2.2 million farmers are set to receive about N12.3 billion agricultural subsidy from the Federal Government in a few weeks.
This is as Presidency officials confirmed that President Muhammadu Buhari had already approved a N6.15 billion agricultural subsidy for the first batch of 1.2 million farmers.
According to a report by Punch, this disclosure was made by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Agriculture, Andrew Kwasari, who said that the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) had validated the first batch of beneficiaries.
Kwasari said the 1.2 farmers would start getting their alerts soon, adding that another batch of over one million beneficiaries would also receive about N6.15 billion agricultural subsidy.
He said, “The President has approved subsidies for 1.2 million farmers in Batch A and the NIBSS has validated their bank accounts and BVN (Bank Verification Numbers) as farmers. We have another batch of over one million and NIPSS has also validated their details and it will be sent to Mr President for approval.
“NIBSS validates every BVN tied to any account and can tell you the owner of such accounts in this country.”
On the total amount of subsidy to be given to farmers, Kwasari stated that the funds would come in batches of about N6.15 billion each noting that the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the NIBSS had received the details of those to benefit from the subsidy scheme.